Union attacks city's merit-based pay system

Published 7:00 pm, Wednesday, July 9, 2003

About a dozen disgruntled employees from departments including maintenance, the library and the city attorney's office complained that Mayor John Manlove has wasted money and resources improving the city's image and has not followed through on quality, according to Kimbal Urrutia, executive director of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, Local 1550.

By DEANNA SHEFFIELD

There's just a lot of questions," said Tammy Malone, Pasadena employee representative for the AFSCME.

"Morale is at an all-time low because they have done away with seniority. But if you're in with the supervisor, you can get a raise."

City council passed the merit-based pay raise system in early March amid concerns from some council members that politics would play too big of a role in the new program. Prior to approval of the new pay schedule, the city used a step system, which gave employees raises according to their tenure.

The new pay schedule instituted was one of Manlove's steps toward "running the city more like a business." Manlove called the plan "far superior to what we have now." Under the new system, city officials expect about 99 percent of employees will receive some type of raise annually.

District D Councilman Jack Douglass declared the system "would hurt us down the road" shortly after council approved the ordinance. But Wednesday Douglass said he was "surprised, but not shocked" the program may already be souring.

"I had a feeling it would happen. I wanted to keep the old system before we had politics, and also personalities, involved. I thought that with the old system we had a better chance of keeping it out," Douglas said.

Before voting against the first reading of an ordinance implementing the merit-based pay system for 900 city employees, District A Councilwoman Jerri Neely pointed out that flaws in an employee survey may have inflated support for the performance-based pay system.

Because some questions on the anonymous survey could identify employees, Neely said some city workers likely did not voice their true opinions.

According to the survey conducted by San Jacinto College, before the pay schedule was approved by council, 69 percent of employees would support the performance-based pay system.

"They said this represents what employees want, but they liked the old system," Malone said. "The mayor spends a lot of money on image, but it's just a window dressing. He's not trying to provide quality."

Complaints against the city are currently at one of the highest levels recorded, Malone said.

City spokesman Dave Benson disputed that the city neglects quality and emphasized that improved benefits in recent years have made the city not only competitive with area municipalities, but also "employee-friendly."

"The majority of our employees said they wanted to be paid based on their performance. The survey remains the best data we have," Benson said.

Approximately 80 percent of city employees returned the surveys, which Benson called a "solid" response rate. Personnel director Rick Nelson noted that "specific efforts" were made to ensure high, but confidential employee participation.

Benson said he was baffled the merit-based system had already drawn criticism because the city has not yet had a chance to begin the first round of pay raises.

"We're satisfied that we built in insulation to avoid abuse," Benson said. "Also, under the old system, little weight was given to performance, and greater weight was given to longevity and how long employees hung around. These programs are equally exposed to 'playing favorites'."

The AFSCME intends to present Manlove with a list of complaints, with the hope that an agreeable solution can be reached. City council may also be addressed. Benson said the city had not yet heard from the union, but officials also hope to get to the bottom of the situation.

"It's disappointing because we've always had a strong relationship with the union in the past," said Benson, who said he was surprised the union did not first contact the city.

AFSCME represents public employees residing in Galveston and Harris Counties.